With long, sandy beaches and an average of 342 days a year of sunshine, San Clemente CA has earned its reputation as Orange County’s premiere resort town. The city’s timeless charm, perfect surfing conditions and pristine beaches draw sun worshipers here all year round. With sweeping ocean, hill and mountain views, San Clemente continues Southern California’s Spanish feel with red tile roofs and white stucco buildings.
Get ready to experience life at a slower pace while enjoying a healthy lifestyle with plenty of outdoor recreation activities in this town of 63,000 residents located halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. This Spanish Village by the Sea encompasses everything Southern California is famous for and much more. It offers a unique balance between metropolitan Southern California and small beach town with plenty of conveniences and beaches that seem untouched by time.
San Clemente’s stable housing market, low crime rates and surplus of local amenities lend to its livability score of 85 and help make it the 22nd most livable city in California. San Clemente real estate drags down the overall score as the city’s cost of living receives an F grade. With a median home price of $728,000 and a median household income of $113,018, San Clemente is one of the most expensive cities in Southern California.
Source: wikimedia.org
San Clemente is all about the healthy lifestyle. With miles and miles of waterfront walking, jogging and running paths and bicycle friendly roads, the city is perfect for those who prefer to workout outdoors. Liveability.com says that 89 percent of San Clemente residents are nonsmokers and 84 percent live active lifestyles.
For those who prefer their workout indoors, San Clemente offers a variety of gyms and other indoor recreation activities, from big box gyms such as 24 Hour Fitness to small more niche gyms such as Crossfit and MMA. In fact, a Google Maps search reveals nearly 20 gyms in the 18 square mile city, meaning you’re never more than a mile away from a gym at any time.
The vast majority of residents (80 percent) has a body mass index of less than 30 and has access to some of the best doctors and hospitals in Orange County. With 191 doctors, San Clemente has a resident to doctor ration of 323:1, which is about three times better than Orange County’s average.
And it goes without mention that surfing is a way of life in San Clemente, which catches major swells all year round. The city is sometimes referred to as the surfing media capital of the world since it is home to publications such as Surfing Magazine, Longboard Magazine and the Surfer’s Journal.
Source: wikimedia.org
With a predominantly tourism-backed industry, San Clemente’s largest employers are mostly government run organization, such as the Capistrano Unified School District and the City of San Clemente. Those two organizations employ 553 and 306 people, respectively. ICU Medical, a 400-employee strong medical device manufacturer, is the area’s largest private employer.
Just over the San Diego County line is Camp Pendleton, a marine base that provides many civilian jobs.
Since tourism drives the economy here, the city is home to many resorts, hotels and fine dining destinations.
Source: wikimedia.org
San Clemente is unique in the sense that its geographical isolation made it tough to develop and has kept the town small. It’s also the reason the area was largely uninhabited until Father Junipero Serra established the nearby Mission San Juan Capistrano, which brought Spanish and Native American settlers.
The town’s founder, Ole Hanson, an out of town developer, purchased 2,000 acres by the sea in 1925 and named it San Clemente. Hanson’s goal was to build a utopia for native Southern California residents who were tired of big city living. Hanson has been quoted as saying: “I get credit for building San Clemente. I am doing my best, but San Clemente’s development was as natural as a well-watered and fertilized tree to grow. It is on the coast. Its climate is superb. It is far enough from San Diego and Los Angeles to fill a real necessity. Besides, people love the beautiful things.”
But it was Hanson’s knack for marketing that really put the city on the map as he was able to sell plots of land quickly.
In 1969, President Richard Nixon bought a 9,000-square-foot beachfront mansion called La Casa Pacifica and nicknamed it the Western White House. During Nixon’s time in office, many state and world leaders visited the estate, including Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, and Henry Kissinger. Nixon continued to live in the home after resigning from office, but sold the estate in 1980 and moved to New York City. Today the home is still a private residence and is closed to the public. It was listed for sale in 2015 for $75 million.
